Seamless hosiery.



No. 800,840. PATENTED OCT. 3, 1905. R. O. BLOOD.

SEAMLESS HOSIBRY.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22. 1905.

r f Mmmm @@QQMQQQ www UNTTED' sTATEs PATENT orrion.

ROBERT O. BLOOD, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SEANILESS HOSIERY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3, 1905.

Application led March 22, 1905. Serial No` 251,427.

T0 all whom, t may concern:V

My present invention relates to improve.

ments in the manufacture of hosiery, and more particularly to that class of articles known as seamless stockings; and it consists in certain changes whereby a more perfectly fashioned stocking is produced.

In the drawings I have illustrated the principal points which constitute my improvement, and my said invention is disclosed in the following description and claims.

Figure I is a side view of a portion of a stocking embodying' my said improvement. Fig'. 2 is a view of the back of the portion of the stocking embodying my invention. Fig. 3 is a sectional View of the leg of the stocking, taken on line ."0 a: in Fig. 2 before the iioatthreads are removed. Fig. 4 is a like View after cutting' away the floated threads. Fig. 5 is a diagram of the threads in the double.- knitted portion.

Seamless stockings are usually knit upon circular-knitting machines and in which the same number of stitches are employed throughout. Various changes have been suggested by which the tubular web may be formed so as to taper the leg from the calf down to give the proper size to the ankle and make the stocking resemble full-fashioned stockings or stockings knit on straight machines, in which the web is narrowed and a less number of stitches are employed in each knitted course in the ankle than in the calf` of the stocking. One of these modes of shaping or fashioning the stocking is by reducing the size of the stitch to eect the size of the knitted tube. Another is to use a smaller' and liner thread in the part of the stocking which it is proposed to make smaller.

My mode of proceeding to reduce the size of the tube at the point desired is to reduce the size of the stitches in a less pronounced degree than is usually done and to throw in for the required distance'a finer thread for every other course of stitlsinterknitting the two threads for a given number of stitches at the back of the leg and ankle of the stocking.

In knitting the stocking, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, .the stocking is knit in the usual way of uniform size, beginning at the top, down to about the point a, where the stitch is slightly shortened. At the point (d a smaller or finer thread is thrown in, as at 2 in Fig. 5, and the two threads are knitted together for several stitches, generally about five or six in number. The main thread l is -then thrown out or carried toward the center of the tube and the ensuing course is knitted from the finer thread 2. As the thread-guides are again brought to the point at which the thread 2 was thrown into the web thread 1 is again brought into position to be taken by the needles, and the two threads are again interknitted for the same number of stitches as before. Thread 2 is then thrown out in the same manner andthe operation repeated down to the point a2 on the ankle of the stocking, when thread 2 is entirely dispensed with and the heel and foot made in the ordinary manner. This interknitting of the thread forms the thickened piece in which a greater amount of thread is taken up than in plain knitting, and this serves to further reduce the size of the tube and assists in fashioning the stocking. Vhile this thickened piece is being knit the length of the stitches may be further reduced if it is deemed best to do so.

The thickened piece l) serves to give shape to the ankle of the stocking and to maintain its fashioned form. The piece Z) being more rigid than other4v parts of the ankle keeps the form given it and maintains the shape of the stocking at that point. The introduction of the finer thread in every alternate course aids in reducing' the size of the tube, while the presence of the usual thread in alternate courses serves to prevent the web from becoming perceptibly lighter. Thus the entire leg of the stocking' when completed appears to be homogeneous throughout with the exception of the thickened part b.

In Fig. 3 the floated threads are shown at the conclusion of the knitting operation. In order to insure the proper tension of the floated threads, I prefer to employ a thread-retainer, composed of wire or some equivalent thereof, depending near the center of the cylinder, which will catch the thread from each guide and maintain the tension of the thread. This wire or depending part extends downward for a little distance below the top of the IIO needle-cylinder, so that as the web descends these floated threads are drawn from the retainer. In linishing the stocking the floated vthreads are cut away near the web, leaving short ends, as shown at c in Fig. 4f.

While I have described the stocking having the ankle portion made from two threads, it is obvious that three threads of differing degrees of fineness might be employed, and if in the View of the manufacturer it would be desirable one or more additional threads might be employed.

W hat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A machine-knit seamless stocking having the reduced portion ot' the leg composed 

